The Strathspey Server
Your resource for Scottish country dance and music
The Strathspey Server
Your resource for Scottish country dance and music
This page was supposed to be used for »frequently answered questions« in connection with Scottish country dancing. However, the resource was never anything to write home about :^(
If there are other things you would like to see treated here, or even better want to help out with actual content, do let us know.
Every year (or dance season, rather) the RSCDS recommends a bunch of dances for inclusion in social programmes. The official list is published in the RSCDS members' magazine and on the RSCDS web site (even though it is well hidden inside the members' area). For your convenience all the lists published so far are collected here.
See these messages by Adriana Linden, Heather Sykes, Bob McMurtry, and Mike Briggs.
John Cahill notes an episode of »McMillan & Wife« but doesn't remember which one, except that it dealt with rival contestants for a clan chiefship. Ann McBride says that it was really »Hart to Hart« (»Hart aber herzlich« for our German readers, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers). The dancers in question are from Los Angeles branch.
Jean Hayes mentions the second episode of the first series of the BBC television series »Monarch of the Glen«. (The episode guide doesn't go into detail.)
HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother got the (then) SCDS to publish the Reel of the 51st Division, back when she was queen in 1944. See the messages by Lee Fuell and Alan Mair.
A longer article on the Reel of the 51st may be found in Anselm's area.
From the RSCDS and similar places, in expensive little bottles. If you're on a budget, then ask your friendly neighbourhood chemical supplies dealer for »zinc stearate«, which is the same thing from chemistry's point of view but costs considerably less (I paid 15 euros for a whole kilogram a few years ago, and the supply is hopefully going to last for the next decade or so; it's supposedly even cheaper if you get it by the lorry-load). If you don't have a chemical supplies dealer at hand, a pharmacy might be able to help but you will probably save less. See also the Practice section for hints on non-skid methods that do not involve spreading gunk on the dance floor.
It depends :^) If you look at James B. Cosh's original instructions for the dance, they make the deviser's wishes quite clear — Cosh actually went to the trouble of putting an italicised notice right at the top of the dance description saying »N. B. Dancing couple passing left shoulder in centre«. That notwithstanding, passing right shoulder is a very common variation in social settings. (Note that we're specifically talking about social dancing here, not instruction and not display teams.)
The disagreement here is essentially between the purists and the pragmatists (to coin some arbitrary labels). The purists say that one ought to dance a dance the way its inventor wrote it down, while the pragmatists allow for »embellishments« and the »folk process« (meaning that if enough people prefer right shoulders, then right shoulders it had better be).
At the end of the day, every dancer (or dancing couple) need to decide this matter for themselves — the issue is out there and the right-shoulder passes are not going to go away. Essentially, whether you pass left shoulder or right is basically between yourself, your partner, and Jimmy Cosh's ghost. The rest of the set isn't touched by whichever way you decide. Conversely, the shoulder other people are using is not a matter for you to pronounce judgement on. SCD is supposed to be enjoyable, and some people enjoy doing things »by the book« while others enjoy »embellishment« (even if the embellishment has become so ingrained it is no longer a matter of spontaneous exuberance). Get used to it.
